Safaricom Teams With Chainalysis as AI Hunts Payments Linked to Illegal Wildlife Trade
Safaricom, along with major technology and cryptocurrency companies, including Chainalysis, has joined Prince William’s United for Wildlife taskforce to combat the $23 billion illegal wildlife trade.
Kenyan telecom giant Safaricom has joined forces with a coalition of international technology, payments, and cryptocurrency firms to dismantle the financial networks driving the illegal wildlife trade. The initiative was announced at a recent event convened by Prince William and The Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife taskforce.
The coalition brings together Google, Meta, TikTok, and Alibaba. These companies have committed to eradicating wildlife trafficking from their platforms using AI-driven detection and prevention systems to catch illicit listings before sales occur.
While social media and e-commerce platforms focus on front-end listings, the battle is simultaneously moving to the financial back-end. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates the illegal wildlife trade generates up to $23 billion annually, putting one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction.
Safaricom, alongside parent companies Vodafone and Vodacom, will deploy AI within its anti-money laundering and transaction monitoring systems. The AI will be integrated across M-Pesa, Africa’s leading mobile money platform, to flag and disrupt suspicious transactions linked to poaching and trafficking syndicates.
Mainstream payment processors and major cryptocurrency analytics firms—including PayPal, Chainalysis, TRM Labs, and Luno—have pledged to use blockchain tracking and advanced digital forensics to hunt down and expose cross-border crypto wallets and alternative payment pathways used by wildlife smugglers.
The urgent need for intervention is underscored by the devastation of Africa’s white rhinoceros. The Southern White Rhino population, revived through conservation to around 17,000, now faces threats from organized poaching. Rhino horn sells for up to $60,000 per kilogram on the black market, more valuable by weight than gold or cocaine.
Supporting the digital crackdown, aviation leaders British Airways and Heathrow Airport announced public awareness campaigns to help travelers identify and report suspected wildlife products.